In general, absorbent articles such as a sanitary napkin, an incontinent pad, breastfeeding pad, and the like are known to include a liquid-permeable top layer, a liquid-impermeable back layer, and a liquid-retentive absorbent core disposed between the top layer and the back layer. Such an absorbent article is required to cause body fluid, such as blood, urine, and the like, to rapidly migrate to the absorbent core where it is absorbed and retained with no leakage.
In order to absorb and retain body fluid with no leakage, heretofore, there has been utilized an absorbent article, in which a liquid-preventive will is formed on each of the width-wise, left and right side portions so as to prevent leakage of unabsorbed body fluid deposited on the surface of the top layer. These leakage-preventive walls are formed by using a topsheet which constitutes the top layer of the absorbent article and a backsheet which constitutes the back layer, or by alternatively using a nonwoven fabric and a film-like material.
However, since such a liquid-preventive wall of the absorbent article either has no liquid absorbing/retentive properties or has only small liquid absorbing/retentive properties, body fluid tends to leak beyond the leakage-preventive walls when a large quantity of body fluid is deposited on the surface of the top layer, caused by motion of the user, or the like.
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention, to provide an absorbent article which is capable of preventing the possible leakage of body fluid in a reliable manner, irrespective of the quantity of body fluid and motion of the wearer.